Content about Texas

CHICAGO — The filing deadline for 2011 federal income taxes is not far off, but you still have time to make sure you’ve done everything you can to keep Uncle Sam’s paws off as much of your money as possible. Here are some last-minute ways to do that by reducing your 2011 income tax bill:

Save More for Retirement

One of the most important tax-savings steps you can take is contributing the maximum to your 401(k) or other tax-deferred retirement plan. If you haven’t done so, max out your retirement savings now by bringing your contribution up to the legal limit. For 2011, you may put as much as $16,500 into a 401(k), 403(b) or 457 plan. If you’re over age 50, you may add an additional $5,500.

Every dollar you contribute means you will pay less income tax. Except for Roth IRAs, all contributions to tax-deferred retirement plans are tax-deductible in the tax year for which you make your contribution.

If you can’t come up with the maximum, bump up your contribution as much as you possibly can. It may seem painful now, but you’ll benefit greatly in the future.

PEMBROKE, Mass. — Family Drycleaners, in Hull, Mass., sells children’s toys in its front-counter section. Dolls, games and wooden toys are its stock in trade. Management says this adjunct business does well because no one else in town carries children’s toys. If a customer wants a nice wooden toy, say, as a gift, they have to buy it at Family Drycleaners.

Such selling of unrelated products goes against the conventional wisdom of Drycleaning Management 101. Do what you do well—process clothes efficiently and cleanly. Peddle ancillary trade—alterations, shoe repair, etc. And, if you sell anything in the front, make sure it’s related to garment care—lint brushes, stain stick, clothing bags and the like.

Sometimes, you go against conventional wisdom because selling unrelated products makes sense. In Marfa, Texas, there is a Laundromat/coffee shop/ice cream parlor—a three-in-one business. The reason it works is because Tumbleweeds Laundry is the only laundry, the only ice cream shop and the only “pure” coffee shop in the small town of 2,200.

Operators returning to the industry sawed off an abandoned building to create a dream plant, taking Plant Design honors.

BERKLEY, Mich. — When TV star Ty Pennington gave his trademark direction to “Move that bus” to reveal a newly-built home one recent afternoon, it represented a fresh start for a wounded soldier and his new bride, compliments of ABC-TV’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The weeklong project in Salado, Texas, also marked the completion of the 100th episode of the show for the Certified Restoration Drycleaning Network (CRDN).

ARLINGTON, Texas — Although a bit smaller than usual, the 2010 Southwest Drycleaners Association (SDA) Cleaners Showcase, held in Arlington, Texas, in April, had everything an enquiring operator could want in a show: exhibits, meetings, networking, seminars and awards.

Preconvention events included a seminar with “Cowboy Cleaner” Kenny Slatten, “Production Motivation Criteria for Today’s Owners/Managers,” which covered ways to use downtime effectively while the economy recovers.

Outstanding Production Facility: CRDN of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas, Nev.

Located in an industrial park eight miles from Glitter Gulch, CRDN’s 8,300-square-foot plant is built to handle restoration work throughout the region quickly and efficiently. And the spotless new plant does just that, with room to grow.

Hobbs, N.M., in 1932 was like nothing I had ever seen: A dirty, no-pavement, oil town with no place to live. Oil wells pumped all over town, and it smelled like rotten eggs. We found a shotgun house, outdoor plumbing and shared outside shower (cold), but we were glad to get it.

SOUTHLAKE, Texas — Koalaty Cleaners in Southlake, Texas, has launched a program that allows customers to give back to the community. Called Koalaty Cares!, the program allows clients to designate 3% of their sales for donation to a local school or school-sponsored club.

For every dollar a customer spends at one of Koalaty Cleaners’ three locations in Southlake and Coppell, Texas, three cents is returned to the community. The program currently supports Carroll, Grapevine/Colleyville and Coppell schools, as well as the Carroll Debate Club.

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Southwest Drycleaners Association (SDA) says that in spite of a weak economy, its Cleaners Showcase 2008 trade show is winning the most enthusiastic response in years.

Set for Friday, April 4 through Sunday, April 6 at the Arlington Convention Center in Arlington, Texas, the show is a near-sellout, SDA says. More than 200 exhibit spaces have been reserved by 95 industry exhibitors.

DALLAS — The operators of Joe’s Cleaners in Dallas, Texas, foiled a robbery at their store Monday, shooting the suspect to death.

A man entered Joe’s plant smelling of alcohol, owner Joseph Baggett told police, and left again immediately. A few minutes later, the suspect reappeared holding a gun.

Baggett told the man to take the money from the register, but the suspect ordered him to go to the back of the plant at gunpoint upon seeing Baggett’s wife there.

HOUSTON, Texas — Inc. magazine named Houston’s Restoration Cleaners to its first annual list of the top 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in America. Restoration Cleaners placed at No. 685 on the list, and took No. 9 among companies in the magazine’s “environmental services” subgroup.